Description

Inner Worlds is a side-scrolling fantasy action game in which you play the role of a woman named Nikita who happens to be a werewolf. The game consists of three episodes (the first was distributed as shareware, you had to buy the full game to play the other three).

In the first episode, Nikita is trusted by the village elder to free her people from the Gralob, an evil creation of a misguided genius, so she must travel to Castle Drofanayrb where the creature lurks. In the second episode she finds out that the Gralob was only one of two horrible creatures. And finally, in the third episode, she must travel to a volcanic mountain, inside which the secret of Drofanayrb lives, to fulfill her destiny.

The gameplay is quite simple. You can jump, climb, crawl (same things in wolf form, however you're much smaller as a wolf, thus you can squeeze through narrow passages and you have a special "frenzy" move that tears enemies apart). In some levels you can find necklaces that upgrade your health, mana or attack damage. You can find weapons such as hammers, swords, or bows, and you can upgrade them with scrolls giving them unique abilities (ex. the hammer can "throw" lightning). You can also find different gems that give life or mana and potions that help jump higher, fall slower. Mana is needed for spells that you can aquire from level bosses. Each episode consists about 9 levels, and every third level has a boss.

The enemies consist of animals, and experimental creatures of the castle. So you'll encounter spiders, bats, huge centipedes, alien-like creatures, huge green beasts that can stretch their arms.

The graphics of the game are a little strange as the characters are in 2D but the scenery and the foreground is a little bit 3D. The music creates an eerie mood suitable for the game.

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Trivia

Development

The game was cross-compiled on GNU/Linux (libc5) using G++ 2.7.2 / BinUtils 2.6 for "MOSS" DOS target (ELF-based).

Due to benefits of the custom DOS extender used, the main .EXE for the game contains all data (gfx, sound) and totals a whopping 17 MB.

The DOS extender used, MOSS, was GPL-licensed, ELF-based, and based upon an early version of the Flux OS toolkit, using FreeBSD libs and written using almost 100% C code, cross-compilable entirely with GCC / BinUtils.

Bryan Ford wrote most of the DOS extender with some additional help at the University of Utah CS Dept. He made sure both GCC and BinUtils had native support of "MOSS" target before releasing the game. GCC through 3.3.6 and BinUtils through 2.19 supported the MOSS target out of the box.

Head Programmer. Bryan is primarily responsible for the core graphics engine used in Inner Worlds (CLAWS) as well as the programming of the most important components of the system.:

Bryan Ford (Salt Lake City; Utah; USA [Without Bryan this project could never have been started; could never have been finished and could never have been the superbly innovative and successful game that it is.])

George has been one of the most valuable programmers on the team. He holds the distinction of being one of only a tiny few who have beheld the CLAWS and not gone mad in the experience. Guardian of Colleen's chastity. He brought The Claws to life.:

Jürgen's enthusiasm has helped us all through the toughest parts of the project and for that we all owe him our thanks. Preserver of worlds. Freezer of time. Master Mapper. Keeper of the lost Ghibli. :

An artist of unappreciated talents. Much of the artwork in Inner Worlds is the work of this guy. Skrog, Bocha, Boonta, Skiver, Big Eye, Big Bat and that groovy blue GRALOB! Lots of work on many of Nikita's animations. :

Other end of the world, but always present. Mick has been one of the most prolific members of the team. Always present on the mailing list and helpful in many ways. Always a day ahead of everyone else. Veteran Nikky mechanic.: